Meanwhile over at the Princess’s former employers, Paddle8, the benefit auction for SITE Santa Fe has just kicked off and I’ll be keeping a close eye on bids over the next couple of weeks on Ed Ruscha’s Lady Joy, 2013, which has an estimate of £60,000. SITE’s biennial has often provided a feeding-ground for Venice, with Francesco Bonami, Rosa Martinez and Robert Storr going on to grapple with the Italian monster (with varied success, erm, Mr Storr) after stints in Santa Fe, and a wistful reminiscence about Dave Hickey’s 2001 edition (one didn’t actually have to be there to do this) always gets a nod of respect from curators at summer parties.

Aside from the giddy whirlwind of parties, summer in London always has one other constant: the Royal Academy Summer Show. This bonkers collection of amateur landscapes, gnarly old Royal Academicians and new Royal Academicians inducted into the establishment to make it less stuffy is a truly peculiar affair. Comedian Harry Hill’s portrait of Damien Hirst might have already sold for £2,000 but I’m going to pool together the magazine’s beer kitty to splash out on Frank Bowling’s splendidly summery Pickerslift, which was still available at time of writing for a mere £125,000 and a far more solid investment than the latest process abstraction by twenty-something kids doing the rounds at auction.